A long-rumored middleweight championship clash between Israel
Adesanya and Jared
Cannonier has an official date and location.
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The promotion announced on Saturday that the fight will serve as
the headliner for UFC 276
at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 2. The card will also
include a featherweight championship trilogy between Alexander
Volkanovski and Max
Holloway in the co-main event.
Adesanya will attempt to make his second successful title defense
of 2022 after besting Robert
Whittaker in a rematch in the UFC 271 headliner on Feb. 12.
“The Last Stylebender” is 11-0 in UFC competition as a middleweight
— including four successful championship defenses. His lone career
defeat came in a move to 205 pounds, when he lost a decision to
Jan
Blachowicz in a light heavyweight title bout at UFC 259.
Cannonier enters the matchup with victories in five of his last six
Octagon appearances. He rebounded from a decision loss to Whittaker
at UFC 254 with a decision win over Kelvin
Gastelum and a knockout of Derek
Brunson. His middleweight resume also includes triumphs over
Jack
Hermansson, Anderson
Silva and David
Branch.